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Pakistan suffers a double blow after defeat; ICC hands out two major punishments simultaneously.
After suffering a 0-3 Test series defeat against England, Pakistan has suffered a double blow. The ICC has handed out two simultaneous punishments to the team. So let's find out what the full story is.
Pakistan
Pakistan recently suffered an 8-wicket defeat against England in the third Test in Birmingham. With this loss, the team lost the series 0-3. Following this humiliating performance, the International Cricket Council (ICC) has dealt a double blow to the Pakistani team, imposing two simultaneous penalties. Pakistan was fined 50% of its match fee and docked 11 World Test Championship points for maintaining a slow over-rate in the Birmingham Test.
The ICC issued a release stating that Pakistan fell 11 overs short of the target after taking into account the time given during the Edgbaston Test, due to which the team was fined 50 percent of the match fee and 11 points were deducted in the current World Test Championship cycle.
The sanction was imposed by Ranjan Madugalle of the ICC Elite Panel of Match Referees following allegations from on-field umpires Paul Reiffel and Chris Gaffaney, third umpire Allahuddin Palekar, and fourth umpire Russell Warren. The 11-point deduction is a significant blow to Pakistan.
The team is languishing at the bottom of the World Test Championship points table, at ninth place. Their points percentage has dropped to just 4.63. Pakistan was already struggling to secure points due to consecutive defeats in the cycle, and any remaining points were deducted through penalties.
Under which rule was Pakistan punished?
In accordance with Article 2.22 of the ICC Code of Conduct for Players and Player Support Personnel, which relates to minimum over-rate offences, players are fined 5% of their match fees for every over their side fails to bowl in. The maximum fine is limited to 50% of their match fees.
Furthermore, according to Article 16.11.2 of the ICC World Test Championship regulations, each over short is a penalty of one point, resulting in Pakistan losing 11 WTC points from their total. From here, reaching the final appears almost impossible for Pakistan.
